


Once in a Lifetime

by DragonTamerM



Category: Xenoblade Chronicles
Genre: F/M, Post-Canon
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-07
Updated: 2020-08-07
Packaged: 2021-03-05 21:42:29
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,847
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25762336
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DragonTamerM/pseuds/DragonTamerM
Summary: The morning after her wedding, Melia thinks about the events that brought her there.
Relationships: Melia Ancient | Melia Antiqua/Dunban, mentions of other ships - Relationship
Comments: 3
Kudos: 16





	Once in a Lifetime

**Author's Note:**

> Here we go guys, my very first work. Xenoblade Chronicles finally gave me enough inspiration (ie hyperfixation) to finish at least a one shot!  
> If you enjoy this, please know that I'm posting it just because I've found the most amazing beta reader I could, **Transistence** here on AO3.  
> They helped me turn my ramblings into a story and I can't thank them enough.  
> Any remaining mistakes you may find are mine.

Melia sat on her bed in her room at the Imperial Villa, gazing out the window at the sun rising above Eryth Sea. Looking back now, she could admit that at least from the outside it might have been obvious that they were going to end this way, maybe even since the first time they'd met. 

Growing up in the imperial family meant that she had been well educated from very early in her life, in many areas - history, geography, different languages, different cultures, sociology, astronomy. It meant that she had been trained as a fighter and in the use of ether as a weapon since she was twenty. It also meant that she hadn't really been taught about relationships of any kind, beside political ones, and that she did not get many occasions to experience and experiment in that field. She had known since forever that it was rare to marry for love when you were a princess, and she had accepted that. 

When she had come of age, the Emperor had told her that he was planning to make her Crown Princess as soon as possible.  
That had meant that she had to start taking missions to protect the Empire, that she would often have to travel to Frontier Village to maintain diplomatic relations with the Nopon, and that she had to start attending cabinet meetings with Kallian and the Emperor to get the public and the rest of the government to know her and respect her. But it had also meant that she was going to have to take two consorts - first a High Entia, then a Homs - and produce at least one heir with each of them. At that point, she had been sure that she would never marry for love, because she already knew that was not how politics worked. 

When at 88 she had been entrusted with the most dangerous mission of her life, killing a Telethia, she couldn't have imagined that her life was going to change so much.   
She had experienced the first crush, as Sharla would call it, of her life. The first boy she had liked, she hadn't really liked. He had looked cute enough; they were sixty-four and reckless and curious. He was the son of a minister, kind and smart, and they had wanted to experiment. Not much more than a kiss had happened.  
Apart from that, she had spent most of her youth in the Villa, with her guards, training and studying. So she used to think that there was not much more to relationships than kindness, respect, and eventually affection, because she hadn't experienced anything else and because she had always thought that would have been her destiny as Crown Princess.   
For a while, she had believed that Shulk fit her criteria for a successful relationship well enough. He was a bit young for her, but High Entia always took much younger Homs consorts, so the idea hadn't been completely uncomfortable to her. She had been pretty sure that even the Emperor would have approved of the young, kind, good looking warrior from Colony 9. At the time, she would have never thought that the pull she felt in her chest whenever she saw Dunban would ever mean anything. 

The gentle breeze coming in from the window of her bedroom ruffled her hair and wings. She sighed. She understood now that her concept of love, attraction and relationships had been somewhat wrong and filtered by her experience as a member of the imperial family.  
When Sharla had confronted her after Prison Island, she was still convinced that Shulk would be the right choice for her, even though his youth was starting to feel wrong to her.   
Then Reyn had told her that Shulk hadn't had a part in the decision to rescue her in the High Entia Tomb - that it had actually been his idea, and then Dunban had almost punched her brother in the face while trying to convince him to let them save her. This was when she had started to doubt her feelings.  
Things weren't adding up yet though. His need to save her, her need to save him... those could have still been explained by friendship and camaraderie in her opinion. Just as her exhilaration when she watched him fight could be explained by the respect she had for him as a warrior.  
What was weirder and harder for her to explain had been the spark of fire that she had felt in her chest when she had seen Dunban dressed in his High Entia uniform. For some reason, the idea that the Eryth uniform was the best look on him kept popping up in her head every time she saw him in it. Seeing him fight Metal Face wearing that uniform had given her chills that were completely different from those that the bite of the cold weather could provide. 

When they woke up together on the beach on the Fallen Arm, after the battle at Galahad Fortress, she was starting to feel lost. She felt things when she looked at him; when he smiled at her. Every time he touched her she could feel herself burning with unexplainable feelings.  
Upon meeting Fiora, she understood that she really had no real feelings for Shulk beside friendship, affection, and respect - but she was beginning to realise that those were not enough to pursue a relationship with someone. She was not jealous of the poor girl trapped in a Mechon body. She discovered that she felt happy that they had found each other again. Watching them be together filled her with a longing that had nothing to do with them as Shulk and Fiora, and everything to do with their freedom to be together, and with the approval of their friends and family as well. 

She got up from the bed, took a robe from the chair to wrap herself in and walked towards the window and on the balcony, to take in the crisp morning air.  
She remembered how she had slowly started to wonder what it was that she was feeling, back then. She observed the interactions of Shulk and Fiora, of Reyn and Sharla, and she wondered if she felt for Dunban the way they felt for each other, or if it was something different.   
She remembered thinking back of the day they met, analysing the time they spent talking through the night and fighting side by side. She thought of the first time he had helped her up during a particularly hard fight, the way he held her hand even tighter after she stood up and encouraged her to stay strong. Unlike now, the way he looked at her when they were alone used to be confusing, she had no idea if it was at all similar to how Shulk and Fiora looked at each other, or if it was something else.  
The anger she had felt after their confrontation in Frontier Village, when he had insinuated that she preferred Shulk to him in some way, was confusing too. She had been almost disturbed by the idea that he still did not understand her at all. But she guessed that for someone who didn't know everything about her background, her actions and her behaviour could be misleading. She used to be confused by the way she had needed to see him the day her father died. How she had sneaked into his hospital room to thank him for saving her life, despite the pain in his arm, and how she used her ether to relieve the pain, despite the deep anguish in her heart. 

So during their time on Mechonis, she actively tried to be more perceptive in their interactions. She had wanted to savour her feelings for him and to try and understand what they were and if they were in any way reciprocated. He had seemed happier and lighter since Fiora had joined their party, his need for revenge almost cancelled by the presence of his sister, alive and well.   
Melia ran a hand through her hair, trying to give it an appearance of order before going back into her room.  
Looking back on the time they spent on Mechonis now, she could swear he had been almost flirty with her, in his own way. Not that she had any idea then. Maybe it hadn't been clear from the get go. After all even Sharla, usually so perceptive, had gotten her all wrong.  
Maybe it had been a slow but inexorable fall. It had certainly started as attraction, even though she hadn't realised it at first, and then it had grown into something far stronger. Maybe it had been getting to know him, that did it. Knowing his nightmares, his pain, the betrayal he endured; all of his struggles. The way he too had to wear a mask, just like her. The way he had to be a father to his sister, even when he had been as young as seventeen. The way he had to be a hero for his men, even when the pain made it almost impossible to move. That's why they found comfort in one another, in being able to be just themselves when they were alone, not a hero and an empress. 

Melia went back into her room and discarded her robe again. It had certainly taken a while to get to where she was now, ceremonial clothes scattered on the ground and her first and only consort asleep on her bed. Kneeling on the bed beside him and looking at him, she remembered their first kiss, and how it tasted like fear and despair. Her brother and most of her people had just transformed into Telethia, he had just discovered that Dickson was a traitor as well, just like his other companion Mumkhar. Then she thought of their last kiss, shared the night before, legs entwined, sweet nothings whispered in each others' ears. She felt the usual pull in her chest at the sight of him. Her hero. 

"You're staring, Empress...?"  
His voice, rough from sleep, took her out of her musings. She smiled, even though he looked a bit too smug for her taste.  
"What if I was, Consort? You are mine to stare at," she said, trying to match his smugness.  
He reached and caressed her headwings with his hand. She leaned into his touch and let her eyelids close to enjoy his gentle touch.  
"That I am. Are you alright?" She opened her eyes again and noticed that he seemed worried.  
"I am, I promise. I was just... Reminiscing."  
"Come here," he said, patting the bed beside him. She promptly lay down beside him, nuzzling his neck with her nose.  
"You lost so much Melia... Do not dwell on the past. From now on, the future is ours. Alcamoth will flourish again, everything will be fine. We will be fine," he whispered softly into her hair.  
Melia smiled and nodded. Yes, no matter how they got here, this was how it was supposed to go. 

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading!  
> If you enjoyed, don't forget to leave a kudo or a comment. If you didn't, leave an angry comment anyway! I'll take full responsibility. Any feedback is good feedback on your first work, in my opinion.  
> Also I've done my best with the formatting, but since it was my first time posting it may not be perfect, and for that I apologise.  
> See y'all soon!


End file.
